LUCKNOW, April 10: Ten young footballers drowned on Tuesday in an attempt to save a fellow player who also died in a fast-flowing river in northern India, police said.

The footballers, aged between eight and 13, were playing on the banks of the Yamuna river when their ball fell into the water and one of them jumped in to retrieve it, police spokesman Surendra Srivatasva said.

“The football fell into the river and when one of them tried to retrieve it, he fell into the water accidentally,” he said in the Uttar Pradesh state capital, Lucknow, 300 kilometres southeast of the accident site.

“The children jumped into the river one after another to save their friend and all of them were swept away by the strong river currents,” Srivatasva said.

Srivatasva said the accident occurred in the district of Kaushambhi.

“All the 11 drowned. Probably these children did not know the current of the water was strong in that area,” the officer said. Indian children often are not taught to swim but frequently wade into rivers and lakes to beat the searing summer heat.—AFP